John Bunch

Cary, Just throwing in my 2 cents worth. I have had exactly the same progression and experience as you. I started on a 20 button chinese anglo and after about 4 months later updated to a 30 button stagi. I really enjoy it and it sounds almost like a "real" concertina to me. I am still a long way from getting everything I can out of it. Eventually I hope to upgrade to one of the better ones that I have learned about here, but for now I will keep working on this one. Hang in there. John

Hi Alan, I appreciate your reply. I was hoping for an answer to that question. Since I am not ready for a move into the more expensive and obviously better quality instruments I will just have to live with this for awhile. I don't have much to compare with but I do know that the bellows seems a lot stiffer than my Morelli although it ran out of air sooner and I had to use my air button a lot more. Of course the Stagi sounds more "concertina-like" to my ear than the Morelli which sounded like an accordion. Maybe we can have an offline discussion about your experience with the Edgley, they do look like beatuiful instruments. Thanks again for your reply. John

Thanks Dave. Please put my name on the list for the NW Squeeze-in. It sounds like fun and a chance to meet other concertina players, something I haven't been able to do yet. Any sessions I attend would definitley have to be "beginner friendly" but I don't think I am ready to play in public yet anyway. I play a lot of other instruments and can recognzie "the agonizing beginner phase" when I hear it in myself. Hope to see you around. Thanks, John

Hi everyone, I am a new member of concertina.net who has been lurking for a while but decided to stick my toe into the water here. I bought a “Morelli” 20 button Anglo from eBay about 4 months ago. I bought all the books I could find and began to try to teach myself to play. I can play some of the songs in the Bertram Levy book and have been working my way through it. I decided that I wanted to get a little better concertina with more of a chromatic range, so after reading lots of the comments here, I bought a Stagi W15-LN black 30 button Anglo with metal buttons. I am enjoying it but the one thing I noticed is that the air button seems to be more “awkward” for me than the air button on the Morelli. I don’t have any problems with reaching the buttons with my fingers which I know are a little farther out than other concertinas but my thumb feels awkward when I try to push the air button. Is this something that I will eventually get used to? If you have any experience with this let me know. I live near Seattle and would really appreciate it if anyone would let me know if there are any concertina concerts, workshops or sessions around here. The Northwest Folk Life Festival is happening here over Memorial Day. If anyone knows of any concertina concerts or groups that have concertinas in them that are performing there I’d love to know about it. I noticed that there is going to be a music workshop for button accordions but haven’t seen anything for concertina. Thanks, John John Bunch jdbunch@yahoo.com